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The Cavaliers
The Cavaliers were one of the eight founding teams the Midwest Combat Chess League, but are now defunct. Historically they were known for the unique traditions among the MCCL teams: their Kings were chosen from the ranks of their Knights from previous seasons. That tradition ended during the 2011 season with the infamous kingship of David P. Schneider. After the 2013 Season, the Cavaliers leadership dismantled the organization, rebuilding and rebranding it as The Phoenix. History 2007 In the inaugural season, The Cavaliers struggled to maintain momentum within each match, scoring only victories against lower-tier teams. Their final record was 2-5. 2008 Their woes continued in the 2008 season, managing to not quite finish at the bottom of the league, but tallied a final record of 1-6. Their sole victory came against the Corsairs, who were winless the whole season. 2009 The Cavaliers were among the teams who claimed to be negatively affected by the abridged 2009 schedule, landing at the bottom of the league with a record of 1-3. 2010 Following 3 seasons of poor performances, Cavaliers fans were treated to a nail-biting week 7 match against the Legion. The 2-hour match ended in victory for the Cavaliers, giving them their first winning record of 4-3 and a spot in the postseason tournament. They faced the Celts in the semifinals, whom they had lost to in the first week of the regular season, and lost in overwhelming fashion. 2011 This year marked the first year that the Cavaliers strayed from their tradition of promoting one of their knights to the position of King. Instead, they promoted David P. Schneider, a bishop, to the position. This was a universally panned decision by both fans and Cavaliers players, but general manager Jeff Rosen stood by his decision. Despite friction between his teammates, Schneider managed to do the unthinkable: give the Cavaliers an undefeated 7-0 season. After beating the Corsairs in the semifinals, they faced the Legion in the championship match. It was during that match that the tension among the Cavaliers players and their King came to a head, and it lead to Schneider making a series of compromised decisions that eventually led to his personal defeat to Katrina Swalby. 2012 After the 2011 season, Schneider was asked to resign as king due to his performance in the finals. In retaliation for what he felt was an unfair decision, Schneider caused a schism within the team and took several players loyal to him and formed the Templars. Left with a fractured lineup, the Cavaliers were frustrated throughout the season. Despite victories over the two teams that would meet in the championship finals, they lost to their own offshoot team in the Templars. Their final season record was 3-4. 2013 Having drafted well and King Wilson Borchert having a season to develop his game and fighter management skills, 2013 looked to be a very promissing season for the Cavaliers. A good regular season saw the Cavaliers end with a 5-2 record and a #3 sead in the post season. Unfortunately the Cavaliers' season would come to an end against the Corsairs in the Semi-Finals. 2014 In the off season King Wilson Borchert proposed to management that perhaps what was needed to find greater success and to futher shed themselves of association with then King David Schneider's 2011 Championship "Meltdown" was for the team to be rebuilt from the ground up and rebranded. After much discussion management ultimately agreed which resulted in Wilson and management amicably paring ways, a complete restructuring of the teams management and coaching structure, and the teams rebranding as The Phoenix. Category:Retired Teams